E-Book/Audiobook Advocacy Tools via RAILS and Becky's Reminder That Our History of Bad Communication Is to Blame

My home library system, Reaching Across Illinois Library System (RAILS), has created a set of advocacy tools that clearly explain the breadth of the pricing problem on eBook and eAudio books for libraries, and take the conversation directly to our patrons.

They have also made it all customizable for you to use for your library and have provided ALT text for all images. I am sharing their communication on the information and how to use it below. You now have no excuse to not participate in this important advocacy.

As multiple states are trying to fight the publishers and make it illegal to keep price gouging us, we need to get the word out to our patrons so that they are also discussing this with their legislatures. Remember, these are their tax dollars and most people have no idea how much we have to pay to get them their books. There are still people, regular library users, who are shocked when I tell them how much we have to pay for eBooks and eAudio books. Then they are further shocked when they find out we pay that and don't even own the books. And while we think it sounds ridiculous I need you all to understand that many people are under the impression that we buy a books once and then have access to it in every format. And that number of people is statistically relevant.

Here is the bigger problem though-- all of this misunderstanding is ON US. As I have written about before, we are terrible at communicating what we do and how nuanced, hard, and expensive it actually is.

We make excuses as to why we don't communicate better. I write about it in that post. But, as I also write in that post, all this does is hurt us more (see the librarians as groomers issue for proof).

We are hitting the tipping point on the eBook, eAudio issue. Making the legislative switch to focusing on the unfairness of the contracts the publisher make with us (over the previously struck down copyright arguments) is starting to work. But now we need constituents to reach out to their legislators without us as the middle-people. 

The RAILS advocacy tools are a way for us to CLEARLY explain to our patrons why they should be outraged at how expensive it is for us to buy their books in the formats they want-- again with their tax dollars. And thanks to RAILS, you can easily access those tools here (and below) is the landing page for the information including the link to download a canvas template which you can customize, including Alt text for all graphics.

Get this information out in your newsletters, on social media, to your friends and supporters groups. All you need is a small percentage of the people you reach with these communications to make the next step and call or email their representatives for us to move the needle forward and stop the price gouging.

Full disclosure, I spent 3 years on the RAILS Board. This means I understand how much work they have put into these. It started back when I was on the board. You can trust them and their resources. Also the fact that they did all this work and are sharing it, far and wide, with anyone who needs it, well, that is even better.

Click here or see below.

RAILS Releases New E-Book/Audiobook Advocacy Tools

RAILS is excited to launch a new set of advocacy tools for libraries to build awareness about the challenges of e-book and audiobook pricing. These documents include an advocacy flyer, sample social media graphics, and sample copy that libraries can use to make their communities aware of this growing problem.  

The original version of the flyer was shared at the 2025 ILA Legislative Meetups. This document is perfect for sharing with public library boards, community members, and legislators.  

The downloadable social media carousel graphics can be shared across all platforms. Libraries are welcome to download the Canva template to add their logo in the lower left corner. RAILS has provided alt text for these graphics. 

There is also sample copy available to accompany the social media graphics. This copy can also be used in newsletters, blogs, or press releases. We encourage libraries to utilize these messages wherever appropriate.  

Working together, libraries have the opportunity to make their voices heard on this issue. By sharing these messages with our communities, we can build a greater understanding of the need for fair access to e-books and audiobooks.  

For more information about this issue, please see the RAILS E-Resource Access Pulse page.  

Becky's Annual Year in Review Program is Today and Here Are the Slides/Resources for All

I have mentioned it a few times, especially toward the end of 2025, but each year I create a brand new program to debut in February where I compile all of the year end data, sift through it, and present it in a 60 minute program where I make some large pronouncements about the year we just lived through and help us move into the next year with educated guess predictions.

This program takes months to compile. Grabbing all of the year end reports is the easy part. It is figuring out how to narrow down the glut of information that comes at us at the end of the year to find the pieces that are most pertinent to all of us and then assess what they are saying when taken all together, that is where the work is. 

I have done this for over 10 years now, on different platforms. This year it is through PCI. Many library systems and state libraries offer access to their programs live and archived. It will have a very wide reach and for that I am happy.

This is also a program that I allow those I present for to keep up indefinitely. (Normally I require my presentations be taken down a year after the live event.)

Why?

Because it is when you can view a few years of these programs in a row that you can watch trends emerge and see how the situation we find ourselves in at the present came to be. Nothing looks like it "came out of nowhere" when you take the time to look back each year.

I love taking a moment with all of you, a few weeks into a new year, to look back together,

While I am paid to give this program every year, I would do this work for myself-- and all of you-- even without a presentation event. And that is also why I make sure that the slides are very text and link heavy-- so that the information for all of you is here and free. It is all too important to not get out to as many people as possible.

If you are attending the program, please note, I had to send in the PDF of the slides 2 weeks ago, but if you use this link to the live slides, you will get the fully updated version.

Click the image to access the slides

Using Awards Lists As a RA Tool: PEN/Faulkner Foundation Awards for Fiction and Debuts Longlist

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

Last week, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced the longlists for their prestigious fiction and debut awards. From the about page for the award:

The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year. Three writers are chosen annually by the Board of Directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation to serve as judges, ensuring that our awards selection process is free of commercial influence. These judges select an initial longlist of ten books, followed by five finalists, and finally one winner as the “first among equals.” The author of the winning book receives a $15,000 prize. The authors of each of the other finalists receive $5,000. The Award is presented at an annual celebration of the year’s distinguished books and authors. This exquisite literary evening features introductions by the PEN/Faulkner Award judges, original presentations by the year’s PEN/Faulkner Award winner and four finalists, and a star-studded list of notable guests, including our PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion.

This year's longlist includes the following titles:

• Dominion by Addie E. Citchens (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)
• Brother Brontë by Fernando A. Flores (MCD)
• The Devil Is a Southpaw by Brandon Hobson (Ecco)
• The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes (One World)
• The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press)
• Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore (Tin House)
• An Oral History of Atlantis by Ed Park (Random House)
• Small Scale Sinners by Mahreen Sohail (A Public Space Books)

To see the full announcement including information on this year's judges, click here. 

The breadth of titles being considered is among the best in literary fiction on this list is refreshing. We have literary titles, popular bestselling ones, and some I have not heard of. SA Cosby and Lily King are among our most popular authors. This list is not a snotty literary list for only a small slice of your readers. It is for everyone who enjoys a good read.

This inclusion of lesser known authors is important because this is not an award that exists in an isolated ivory tower. Go to the landing page for the awards and scroll below the information about the current 2025  award and take a look at the books and authors that have been long listed and honored in the past. Backlist access is super easy. Almost all are books and authors you know about...now.

Speaking of the lesser known titles, along with the fiction list, they also released the longlist of books being considered for the 2026 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel:

• Trip by Amie Barrodale (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (Henry Holt)
• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown)
• The Devil Three Times by Rickey Fayne (Little, Brown)
• Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan (Pantheon)
• North Sun by Ethan Rutherford (Deep Vellum)
• Blob by Maggie Su (Harper)
• Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee (Summit Books)

At the very least, take make sure all of these titles are in your collections. And find ways to get them into the hands of readers, especially the lesser known titles. 

And again, please remember that these titles are NOT just for your literary fiction fans. SA Cosby and Lily King are very popular with a wide swath of readers.

All of these titles on the current list or past lists are also excellent book discussion choices.

Finally, you can click here to learn more about the PEN/Faulkner Foundation's education programs. They will work with you to bring authors to your school or library. Yet another reason to know about this resource.

Resource Alert: 2025 Locus Recommended Reading List

Each February, Locus Magazine comes out with their Recommended Reading List. It is an exhaustive list of all the best Speculative Fiction of the last year. Literally it is one stop shopping for your Speculative Fiction readers...all of them.

This is an excellent resource to help readers and develop your collections for a variety of reasons. 

First, take the list itself, and check your collections. Do you own these books? You should. These are some of the best titles in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror from 2025-- I personally reviewed quite a few of them.

Second, use it to help readers who want books in these genres, but also, to help readers who want to give these genres a try-- the stories and novellas categories are especially helpful here. These are proven winners, titles you can suggest with ease as they were vetted by a group of experts. [see below for a list of those experts]

Third, especially in the collections, anthology, and all of the shorter fiction categories, pay attention to the authors producing these stories. Many will become the novelists whose books you will be clamoring to get soon. I know this because...

Fourth, they make this list every single year, so there is a great BACKLIST! You know I love the backlist. Seriously though, you need to assess your collection, you want a suggestion that is on the shelf, you want to discover a newer voices in the genres, you want to make a display? For all of these things and more, you need to look back more than just one year. Don't worry. I made it easy on you.

Click here to pull up a list of each year's list beginning with the new 2025 list and going backward. Or you can click here to bring up my posts about this resource in the same order. Both links are RA and Collection Development gold. 

This is one of my favorite resources. One I eagerly anticipate every single February. Bookmark it and use it for guaranteed crowd pleasing suggestions for your speculative fiction fans all year long.

Below is the intro to the 2025 list by the editors of Locus Magazine. And please note, as mentioned below, they added a brand new category for translated novels this year.

Welcome to the Locus Recommended Reading List… 

We saw some fabulous books come out last year and are so pleased to let you know about them! Our recommendations are compiled annually by the Locus reviewers, editors, and columnists; outside reviewers; and other professionals and well-known critics of genre fiction and non-fiction. This year we looked at over 1,000 titles between short and long fiction.

Note: we know there will be books you loved that didn’t make it; any one of our voting group would have a different exact list, of course. The list we share is our combined sum of opinions, assessed with a great affection and care for the field. We did not see everything that came out last year (though we tried!) and there will always be books that didn’t make it. No one in the group is allowed to vote for any titles they worked on or acquired.

This year we had recommendations from Liza Groen Trombi, reviews editor Jonathan Strahan; Locusreviewers Liz Bourke, Jake Casella Brookins, Alex Brown, Paul Di Filippo, Paula Guran, Niall Harrison, Rich Horton, Paul Kincaid, Russell Letson, Archita Mittra, Ian Mond, Colleen Mondor, Abigail Nussbaum, Alexandra Pierce, Wole Talabi, Gary K. Wolfe, and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro; staffers Bob Blough, Tim Melody Pratt, and Eleanor Trombla; and outside critics James Bradley, Cheryl Morgan, and Graham Sleight. Input for the non-fiction section also came from Eugen Bacon and Farah Mendlesohn. The art book section had advice from Arnie Fenner, Karen Haber, and Locus senior editor Francesca Myman. Short fiction recommendations added in anthologists and reviewers John Joseph Adams, Sean Dowie, Maria Haskins, Allan Kaster, Charles Payseur, Nisi Shawl, Bogi Takács, and A.C. Wise.

This year we are adding a new category for Translated Novels! For those recommendations we had input and assistance from Gautam Bhatia, Rachel Cordasco, Jukka Halme, Cristina Jurado, Roseanna Pendlebury, Carlos Arturo Serrano, Alex Schvartsman, and Jared Shurin.

You can let us know what your favorites were by voting in the 2025 Poll & Survey. The Poll decides the winners of the Locus Awards, to be held May 30, 2026 during the Bay Area Book Festival (early-bird tickets available now), and is open to all to vote on. The Survey helps us to be a better magazine; thank you for participating!

Click here to see the entire list. And consider voting in the Poll & Survey as linked in the paragraph above this one. Promote the link to your readers so they can participate as well. They will love to have the chance to advocate for their own favorites and they will remember that you were the one that brought them that joy. 

Black History Month Displays and Genre: An Example For You To Use for All Identity Months

This is a repost from 2024:

I do not spend a lot of time on heritage months here on the blog mostly because I know most of you have them covered. My biggest problem though is that many libraries only highlight books by marginalized authors during their "month" and then not at all. 

Last year during Pride, I did an entire post about this issue here. Please read it because it has a lot of excellent information and I am not going to repeat any of it, but know all of it is implied in today's post.

Today I have what you could consider, "Part 2" of that post.

I want you to look at your Black History Month displays because from what I see they mostly contain literary fiction with some historical and maybe like 1 romance. Where is the genre? 

I know where it is. It is left languishing on the shelf because of systemic oppression and well meaning white librarians who think they are helping by "elevating" Black voices during "their" month 

It is a version of what I wrote back in 2019 about the unintended racism in our resources, especially when we are talking about genre.

Let me back up a little because I know some of you are thinking I just called you racist. Let me be clear-- I did not. What I am referring to the fact that our mostly white work force in librarianship tends to uplift only the people of color who fit the standard of the very best of publishing. They think that by highlighting those who fit the standard of "literary" that they are showing Black writers at their best.

When I put it this way, I hope you start to see the problem.

Black people read and write books about everything. Just like white people. In fact, for those who forget this, when Robin does her portion of our Actively Anti-Racist Service to Readers program, she ends  her presentation with examples of Black writers producing works on every topic.

When it is Black History Month, we should be highlighting as wide a range of Black authors as possible. That includes those who hold other identities beyond being Black (again, see Pride post)

[FYI: you can insert any identity into this argument because all people write all kinds of books, but we are using this, one of the most commonly celebrated identity months in libraries, to make you think about this problem.]

Specifically, I would like to discuss the exclusion of genre. Genres are already looked down upon by the world. Publishers and library workers try to lift them up by saying something is a "literary" Thriller or Fantasy or Horror, especially when it is written by someone from a marginalized perspective(again see that post from 2019).

All Black History Month displays must include genre titles. Not including genre is a disservice to what you are trying to do which is showcase the breadth of titles you own by Black people. It is also unfair to your readers of any identity. You are not allowing them to find a book for them. What about the straight, Asian woman who loves speculative? Guess what, she would love to learn about a Rivers Solomon book because their books are awesome. You aren't only suggesting Fonda Lee. Of course not. But I use this obvious example to make you take a hard look at your well meaning self.

Think about it this way, what percentage of your checkouts are literary fiction vs genres? I am not going to wait for you to check because you know the answer-- literary fiction is way below almost every genre in circulation. [I have stats from multiple libraries. LJ reports, and NoveList's data on searches within hundreds of library catalogs to prove it, but you know I am right so let's move on.]

Now the question you knew was coming: Why aren't your Black History Month Displays more genre than lit fic? Again, see above, but the summary is the long tail of white supremacy and systemic oppression

All genres have titles by Black authors, titles you already own. Put them on display. It is not too late to fix your displays. We just finished the first full week of February. Get on it now and remember to do it for every identity month display going forward.

One final note, my friend Alex Brown made this comment on Twitter the other day, one that I cannot leave this post without pointing it out because it is a related problem:

Do not do this! As they go on to say in the thread (paraphrase):

Black History Month is about celebrating Blackness and its history. Do not clog it up with white people providing context. 

And now my comment as a White lady:

This is not about you! It is about making space for others to speak for themselves. Do not insert yourself and your perspective. Get out of the way. Your job here is to find titles to let Black people speak for themselves.

Please take this post and the Pride month post from last June and use them to both celebrate every identity month and make sure your displays are diverse all year long.

What I'm Reading: February 2026 Booklist More of Reviews

The February 2026 issue of Booklist contains 4 of my horror reviews. These are also the final reviews I turned in during calendar year 2025, so it feels nice to close the books on last year as well.

Since there are 4 reviews and I had 2 starred reviews and 2 glowing general reviews, I thought I would break them up here over 2 days on the blog. 

As usual, this post contains my draft review and bonus appeal and readalike information along with my three words. 

First up a review of the book that is also today's #HorrorForLibraries giveaway.

The Rise: Tales From The Gulp 3

By Alan Baxter

Feb. 2026. 318p. 13th Dragon, paper, $16.99  (9780645001983); e-book (9798232822330). First published February 1, 2026 (Booklist).

Gulpepper, an isolated harbor town in Australia, known by locals as The Gulp, is not too unlike the small towns horror readers have encountered before (think King’s Castle Rock novels), and yet, in Baxter’s hands the well worn trope is pulsating with terror and life, even as the town itself leads many to their deaths. In this volume of five novellas, the third in a series, Baxter explicitly warns readers that The Gulp is notorious for swallowing people, that there is no hope for these characters which gets readers invested in immediately, and yet, despite that, readers will hold out hope that just this once, it will work out, every single time. “Sunlight on Clear Water,” which follows a young man, new to town, as he meets the girl of his dreams, exemplifies this well. The immersive setting and lingering dread will follow readers off the page and have them asking for more. A great read for the legions of  readers who love to enter sinister small towns full of monsters, both human and supernatural.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Strong Sense of Place, lingering terror, novellas

Further Appeal:

Okay first things first-- if Baxter lived in America he would be more popular here. And specifically these Tales from the Gulp-- 3 books of novellas now-- create a connected mythos for fans of King's Castle Rock. I hope this review in Booklist will encourage libraries to add all three volumes of Tales from the Gulp to their collections.

The set up is easy and one you have heard before-- an extremely haunted and sinister town. Here it is Gulpepper, a small harbor town in Australia. One that locals are used to but that holds forces that will literally eat you alive. Nothing good will happen to you here. And The Gulp is never satisfied.

However, in Baxter's hands, the trope is never stale. We know bad things are going to happen and yet, we keep reading. He makes the reader care about the characters and even hope things will turn out okay this time. EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW THEY WILL NOT. That is some good storytelling. Great sense of places, just the right amount of connected mythos, and excellently drawn characters we care about.

In terms of the specific stories here. The second and fourth are my favorites. The second follows a kid who is new to town and meets the girl of his dreams (but it is The Gulp so...) and the fourth-- when a movie star goes to a retreat to detox and relax but it is in The Gulp. Both are a perfect example of what I say in the paragraph above.

Readalikes: As I said above, if Baxter was American, we would see his books everywhere. Here is how I know-- because I kept thinking of readalikes. here are a few that popped in my head immediately.

Anything by Owl Goingback– his FL books are a perfect match. It by King, We Are Always Tender with our Dead by LaRocca, Any of the Wayward Pines books by Blake Crouch, Hex by Olde Heuvelt, The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste, Jackal by Erin Adams And this is just a start.

Again, if you are interested, The Rise is this week's #HorrorForLibraries giveaway.

Mother is Watching

By Karma Brown

Mar. 2026. 320p. Dutton, $29  (9798217045716); e-book (9798217045723). 
First published February 1, 2026 (Booklist).

Beginning with a quote from The Picture of Dorian Grey, Brown’s horror debut more than delivers on that ominous foreshadowing with a tale that begins uneasily and steadily builds to all consuming terror. Tilly lives in an America where a virus that decimated the sperm counts of men has greatly altered how people live. The mother of a young daughter, Tilly is still reeling from the loss of her second, but when she is personally called upon to restore a previously thought to be lost painting by a mysterious and macabre artist, Tilly is excited and energized. As she works to free the painting from layers of soot, it quickly becomes apparent that painting is pulsating with life, and the painter herself may be reaching out for Tilly from the beyond grave to take back what she lost, at any cost. Compelling, immersive, and psychologically unnerving, suggest to fans of cursed art horror in the vein of Black Flame by Felker-Martin or surveillance state, fertility horror like Womb City by Tsamaase.

Three Words That Describe This Book: near future dystopia, art horror, psychological horror

Further Appeal: Beginning with more words--  Horror debut by an established author, fertility horror, art restoration, haunted painting, trauma, surveillance state horror, immersive, visceral (paintings were made with blood, fingernails, insect wings), unreliable narrator-- only Tilly. She is all we know. Can't see her husband, friends, kid, mother in law's perspective.

One Before Chapter to set the stage and introduce the reader to the artist-- Charlotte LeClerc who painting Tilly will be restoring for the bulk of this book. The backstory about the artist is haunting, macabre, and as we find out-- threatening. Tilly's mom restored LeClerc's painting, THE CHILD, and now Tilly is doing THE MOTHER. LeClerc died in a fire as she was working on THE MOTHER.

Then we have the "Now" chapters. the action. Everything is in Tilly's point of view, in conversational language, she is clearly telling the reader her story because at the end of a few chapters, she tells us that things are about to get worse-- which in "now" chapters was a bit odd. How can she know that? 

There is an "After" for the ending.

This book has a few too many frames. I think the frame of a near future where floods and fires have changed the world in ways that are hinted at but not explored was not helpful. We could have easily had hey there was a virus, men have compromised sperm counts, that's why there is all this fertility surveillance. Why add in the climate change, fires, storms. There is a big storm at the end but there could have just been a big storm. It takes place in Savannah. They have big storms now.

The intense fertility surveillance and the "supporting" pregnant people and new mothers is not that far off from life now. 

There were also a lot of extraneous details and side plots that did not pay off for the amount of pages needed for them. Some I am like, hmmmm where did that go, others are completely left dangling.

But library patrons will enjoy the immersive horror here. The psychological horror of the painting– is it haunted, is it out to get Tilly, is it moving into the real world, OR is all of this in Tilly's head? Is she so damaged from her life (multiple things) that she is having a complete breakdown? Readers will get caught up in all of it. There is good use of all five senses here to invoke a real sense of unease, anxiety, and eventually all out terror.

There is a lot of great detail about art restoration as well. That was very cool.

I fall on the side of the haunted painting but there is information here for both, especially for when she avoids her therapist friend on purpose towards the end of the book. (Side note, the therapist and her wife are an example of a side story that is developed and then just dropped)

Further Readalikes: Besides the two above, I also thought that readers who enjoyed Bethany Morrow's The Body would also like this. They are nothing in terms to subject, but the appeal is similar.

It Rides a Pale Horse by Andy Marino is another recent artist focused horror story.